Clinton Road Baptist Church moves to Whitesboro

Monday

Dec 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMDec 28, 2009 at 1:32 PM

Members of the Clinton Road Baptist Church say they have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. Chief among their blessings: a new worship space in Whitesboro that will allow the growing church's message to reach more people.

JENNIFER BOGDAN

Members of the Clinton Road Baptist Church say they have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.

Chief among their blessings: a new worship space in Whitesboro that will allow the growing church's message to reach more people.

Sunday marked the third service that took place at 317 Oriskany Blvd. -- home of the former Meislin's supermarket. The church moved from New Hartford, where space had become tight.

Over a 20-year period, the congregation grew from 60 to more than 300. The new facility can accommodate about 1,000 people.

The church purchased the nearly 50,000-square-foot building for about $775,000 in February. It is about 2½ times the size of the Clinton Road property.

Close to a dozen new families were “checking out” the church and its new facilities for the first time Sunday, Macri said.

Wendy Wrisley of Little Falls is one of the many reasons the church needed more space for its ministry. She joined the church within the past month because a family member raved about the powerful messages in the services.

“I have to bring Kleenex every time I come,” Wrisley said. “I think a lot of the women do. The sermons just really hit you.”

Meislin's supermarket opened at the Oriskany Boulevard location, also known as the Clocktower Plaza, in 1995, but by 1997, Meislin's had closed because it was doing poor business. In 1998, NBT Bank bought the property at auction and later sold it to Computer Specialists, which renovated the site for small business use.

While church officials have said the increased space will present opportunities for the church to host concerts and conferences for the community, many church members said they're most excited about the opportunity to attract more people to the church.

“We love it here,” Viktor Korovaynyk of Clinton said. “We want to bring hope, bring people back to the church.”

Macri said the move during the holiday season was made possible because of church members who volunteered to transport items from the old location to the new one. A number of renovation plans for the property, including an indoor gym and a kitchen space, are still in the works.

Now that the church has enough indoor space to accommodate a large congregation, Macri said just one additional issue involving space remains: parking.

The 300 church members easily fill the parking lot in front of the building during morning services, Macri said. He is looking into use of parking lots across the street.